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The White House and President Obama have published the numbers! The much discussed and widely publicized $789 billion monetary package called "The Stimulus Package" or more recently, the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" is forecasted to create or save a total of 17,000 Idaho jobs. While the "17,000 new Idaho jobs" number sounds impressive and I certainly am happy our government is helping, what does it really mean...statistically speaking.
Questions, a Bad Answer and Waiting
Will this solve
Idaho's climbing unemployment rate? Is it a cure all? Or is it just
a band-aid that will lead to economic ruin? My answer to these
questions is "Only time will tell". Anyone who tells you that
they know that the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" will
solve our problems or make them worse is just plain lying to you.
2008 Unemployment Figures
| Period -2008 Idaho | Number of Unemployed Workers -2008 | Net Change per Month | Unemployment Rate (%) |
| Jan | 21,097 | 2.8 | |
| Feb | 21,510 | 413 | 2.8 |
| Mar | 22,320 | 810 | 3 |
| Apr | 23,031 | 711 | 3.1 |
| May | 26,923 | 3,892 | 3.6 |
| Jun | 28,679 | 1,756 | 3.8 |
| Jul | 30,867 | 2,188 | 4.1 |
| Aug | 34,383 | 3,516 | 4.6 |
| Sep | 37,731 | 3,348 | 5 |
| Oct | 40,238 | 2,507 | 5.3 |
| Nov | 43,355 | 3,117 | 5.7 |
| Dec | 48,961 | 5,606 | 6.4 |
| Total Increase in 2008 | 27,864 | 3.6 |
Idaho Unemployment is steadily rising in 2008 - What about 2009?
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Extra, Extra..Read All About It
As you can see,
Idaho has shed almost 28,000 jobs in 2008. Statistically speaking if
all the promised (really just guess work) 17,000 new or saved jobs
magically materialized way back on January 1st of this
year, this would bring us back to only the September/October 2008
time frame in terms of unemployment. I urge you to look at the above
chart, graph and numbers. Use your own brain power, research this
plan, listen to what your heart tells you and some good old common
sense to analyze the situation. I suspect the entire population USA
will also need to get out their magic rabbits feet for some added
hoping power.
Fence Sitting Thoughts
One could assume
that this post is the Bondyweb's indictment of the "American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act" but it's not. I think our
government needs to do something to help us climb out of this
economic mess. Do I think this stimulus package is the right plan?
I doubt this plan will solve many problems but there were a lot of
very smart people advising our leaders on what they thought would
help our country. On the other hand way back in May 2008 I started
telling people that the price of gasoline would come way down...down
to below $2.00 a gallon. Did the "experts" agree with me? No!
There were plenty of these experts saying we were heading for $6.00 a
gallon and even $10.00 a gallon gas by the end of 2008.
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Should I (and you) have a reason to be concerned that the current plan will be a total failure? Just keep your fingers crossed, your wallet and credit cards firmly locked in your back pocket. We'll know soon enough if the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" will do what it has been advertised to do.
Your thoughts and
comments are welcome.
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